§ Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her assessment is of the economic impact of the loss of jobs within the UK from the transfer of administration of call centre operations from the UK to other countries where employment costs are lower. [117134]
§ Mr. TimmsNo such assessment has been made.
Although the UK market is maturing and, in common with other European markets, growth is slowing, the UK has by far the greatest number of call centre operations within Europe. There are conflicting predictions on future UK growth prospects. Mitial Research Limited predict that employment in call centres will decline from more than 300,000 today to 220,000 by 2005. The industry analysts, Datamonitor, predicts that employment in call centres will continue to grow. Datamonitor1 estimates that there are currently 5,700 call centres in The UK, containing 384,000 agent positions. By 2007 it predicts that there will be 6,900 call centres in The UK, containing 470,000 agent positions.
1Datamonitor (2002) Call Centers in EMEA to 2007 Reference Code: DMTC0852